The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 169

THE PALM BEACH POST FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1992 lo Plan boosts budgets of county schools, human services FAU and PBCC presidents, disappointed by proposed though, say they're 3 percent raises. The budget would add 118 jobs in the HRS districts that include Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast. The lion's share of the new workers would be in economic services, where 52 positions are proposed for workers who process welfare benefits. "This is going to undo some of the damage that's been done by previous cuts," said Pam Paulik, an HRS district manager for administrative services. Also included are increased Medicaid reimbursement rates for obstetric care and money to reduce waiting lists for the elderly in need of medical care and in-home al University.

The governor's budget would only give $1.5 million to be split by the schools. He said he would appeal to the Legislature to increase the expansion money. The budget would provide $20.6 million statewide for the 5,842 student enrollment increase, but FAU officials did not know what portion of that would be available for an expected 1,376 new students. Ed Eissey, president of the Palm Beach Community College, said he was also disappointed about the small raises for state workers. He said the budget would leave the school near the bottom in the state in money per student.

The school district would get about $5.1 million for renovations, which Boekhoff said would be about equal to this year's budget. In local human services, Chiles' budget reflected restoration to many of the social services programs that have been cut over the past two years, said Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services officials in West Palm Beach. The largest local appropriation is $6.6 million for the agency's medically needy program, which has been the target of regular cuts. The program provides medical services to working-poor families who make too much money to qualify them for Medicaid. Adolescent and adult drug addicts would also benefit.

The budget requests treatment money for 115 youngsters and 207 adults. In higher education, Florida Atlantic University President Anthony James Catanese, in a written statement, said he was disappointed with the 3 percent raises for faculty and other state employees "Under these conditions, Florida's State University System is certain to lose it's best and brightest teachers," he said. The budget also comes up short in the $3 million the school seeks for expanding programs in the Comprehensive University Presence plan with Florida Internation By WILLIAM COOPER JR. and LARRY KAPLOW Palm Beach Post Staff Writers Palm Beach County education and human services officials said Thursday that Gov. Lawton Chiles' proposed state budget would not be as hard on their agencies as in previous years.

Chiles is proposing to send about $559.3 million for operating the Palm Beach County public schools next year, which would be up from the $527 million this year. Because of expected enrollment growth, that would provide about $33, or 1 percent, more per student, said Henry Boekhoff, the school district's chief financial officer and legislative liaison. "It wouldn't enable us to reduce class sizes or give salary increases, but, because it has some increase, it doesn't appear that we would have to have the massive cutbacks as in the past," he said. The budget would provide $18.4 million in state money for school construction, which Boekhoff said was about $5 million less than the current budget about equivalent to one new elementary school. 4 1 i.

i I J. l- 1 "1 I 1 C7 I VP! A Florida's "Smart Dollar" Budget f-Y nm-')-) X'hrre tffeSfiiM 'Milium (Juts I 1 i Hnmn E10m1sk iDmlopmut I 1 The Governor's Budget: Palm Beach County EDUCATION Public school operations $559,285,830 Public school construction 18,423,906 Public school maintenance, repair and renovations 5,095,29 1 FAU Developmental Research School 1 ,440,257 Developmental Research School construction 117,642 FAU Developmental Research School repair and renovations 31,709 JUDICIARY Criminal prosecution supplement $382,797 Two judgeships and additional staff for county court workload 163,324 SOCIAL SERVICES Employment and training under Job Training Partnership Act $7,827,511 Medically Needy Program 6,643,578 Supplement for Medicaid providers of nursing-home care 5,215,696 Pregnant women and children services 4,298,349 Elderly and Disabled Medicaid recipients 1 ,807,433 Increased Medicaid reimbursements for obstetrical services 1,451,173 "Staffing increased caseload for AFDC, Medicaid and food stamps 1,200,898 Indigent defense 298,093 Increase in Food Stamp Unassisted -Job Search Program 280,524 Emergency Financial Assistance for Housing Program 1 55,889 Expand Project Independence Teen Parent Program 142,648 TRANSPORTATIONENVIRONMENT Add lanes and reconstruct U.S. 27 $8,770,793 Traffic signal update 3,657,130 -Resurface State Road 880 from 9-Mile Bend to State Road 700 2,068,925 Traffic control devices 1 ,725,498 Transit operating assistance 1 ,444,400 Research on Impact of Everglades Restoration Project on fisheries 173,045 Okeechobee County EDUCATION school operations $22,491,285 Public school construction 438,512 Public school maintenance, repair and renovation 339,562 SOCIAL SERVICES Medically Needy Program $664,358 'Pregnant women and children 374, 1 66 Supplement for Medicaid providers of nursing home care 302,918 Increased Medicaid reimbursements for obstetric services 1 40, 344 Elderly and disabled Medicaid recipients 1 14,466 Staffing to meet increased caseloadAFDC, Medicaid, food stamps 23,094 Emergency Financial Assistance for Housing Program 9,345 TRANSPORTATION Bridge replacement on State Road 78 at Lemkin Creek 1 ,862,446 Add lanes and resurface State Road 70 1 ,200,000 i THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Gov. Lawton Chiles defends his $34.9 billion budget Thursday. He says he will announce tax-reform measures next GOP plans no-new-taxes budget Chiles 1993-94 Proposed Budget Total: $34.9 billion Environment Total: $34.9 billion Lottery 2 Transportation 7 Education 29 Other government 11 Federalu General money 1 revenue 24 39 All other 35 services 43 Criminal justice 6 SOURCE: Governor's Office of Planning and Budget STAFF GRAPHIC The Budget And The Consumer taxes and fees proposed under Gov.

Lawton Chiles' budget would raise $662 million for the 1993-94 budget year. Under the proposed budget, if you spend: GENERAL SERVICES 12 to send a package by express air or land couriers, you'd pay 72 cents in taxes. $30 a month on dry cleaning, you'd pay $1.80 in taxes. $300 for a consultation with an interior designer, you'd pay 18 in House would be looking for ways to cut spending, possibly combining departments, as Chiles has proposed doing. Chiles seeks a 3 percent state employee pay raise beginning Jan.

1, 1994, plus merit raises, but he plans no tuition increases for Florida's nine state universities. The budget does not include any money for Preservation 2000, the 10-year program begun in 1990 to preserve endangered and environmentally sensitive land. Chiles said he hopes to find a permanent source of money for the program. "Stay tuned," he said. His plan may come with a proposal for tax reform, expected to include a review of hundreds of other sales-tax exemptions.

Chiles said it is unfair to continue the exemptions when so many other services are taxed. "It's hard for me to find any distinction between a mechanic's bill, who we require the sales tax on, and a lawyer or an architect," he said. But he will have to fight to remove the exemptions. "If you think legal services are expensive now, wait until you add a 6 percent tax to it," said Jerry Butterfield, spokesman for the Florida Bar. "It's not the lawyers who are going to pay the tax; it's the clients." Former Senate Budget Chairman Bud Gardner, an architect of the 1987 services tax, warned that Chiles' proposal could prompt a nasty fight.

"It's really unfortunate. With us struggling with the recession we need to be looking at ways to improve business, not burden it," said Gardner, who owns an engineering firm. The governor's major theme, prevention of problems before they cost the state more, emphasizes expansion of his Healthy Start program to serve 60,000 more needy women and children as well as immunizations, family planning GOPfrom 1A start in life." The budget, he said, spends every dollar wisely, but it does not contain the tax-reform measures Chiles has promoted since his election two years ago. Those proposals will come next month, he said. The budget proposal for the year that begins in July is 9.6 percent higher than the current budget.

The proposed tax increase is half of the $1.3 billion he wanted last year but still too big to suit Republicans, who make up half the Senate. Republicans, who succeeded in killing major tax increases this year, cited the $1 billion in tax collection growth expected next year and said that money should be enough without increasing taxes. "The malls are all full, retail sales are up," said Senate Budget Chairman Jim Scott, a Fort Lauderdale Republican. "All indications are that the economy is doing better," which means more money in sales taxes for the state. He said his committee is working on a no-new-taxes budget to be presented in February.

Legislators begin their annual 60-day session Feb. 2. Senate President Ander Crenshaw, a Jacksonville Republican, said the Legislature "should resist the temptation to take the easy way out and simply raise more taxes. We're beginning to get a handle on the way we spend our dollars. A billion-dollar increase through normal growth is enough money to meet the needs of Florida." Even Democrats were restrained in their endorsement of the governor's proposal, although they said they are pleased to see that Chiles' expectations are more realistic this year.

House Speaker Bolley "Bo" Johnson, D-Milton, a close friend of Chiles, called the proposal "a great beginning," with health care and education as priorities. He said the taxes. $40 for a car wash and wax, you'd pay $2.40 in taxes. $20 to have the oil changed in your car, you'd pay 1 .20 in taxes. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES $50 for an accountant to review your finances, you'd pay $3 in taxes.

$200 for an hour of your lawyer's time, you'd pay 1 2 in taxes. and Medicaid prenatal care. But Sen. William "Doc" Myers, budget chairman for health and social service programs, said Chiles' budget proposal contains problems. He called a plan to put more lottery money in education "smoke and mirrors that doesn't mean diddly-poo" and said the services tax would never pass "even in this non-political year." Sen.

Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, said he is uncomfortable with $660 million in taxes but could support a package about half that size. "The guy on the street's not going to understand why the state can't do its business on $1 billion in additional money," he said. Chiles said he would save $202.4 million by eliminating 996 state jobs and cutting some programs. Still, the amount of spending is higher, and the number of state jobs would increase by 2.5 percent to 141,000, including 1,433 new posts in health and human services and 737 in the prisons. "The people of Florida work hard for their money," Chiles said.

"We owe it to them to work hard with their money." Chiles signs bill for Andrew relief The Associated Press TALLAHASSEE Hurricane-battered South Florida will keep $500 million in sales taxes generated by the post-storm rebuilding boom under a bill signed into law Thursday by Gov. Lawton Chiles. The bill, passed during last week's special legislative session, sets up a three-year reserve fund to be spent on uninsured home and business losses and to keep governments and schools running. During a ceremony in Miami, Chiles signed five hurricane-related bills toughening penalties for looters and price gougers in disaster areas declared by the governor and preventing businesses in storm zones from being charged higher unemployment compensation taxes. Hurricane Andrew struck Aug.

24, killing 41 people and causing more than $20 billion damage in the nation's costliest natural disaster. 1 ,000 for the services of an architect, you'd spend $60 in taxes. RECORDS $3 to check the driving record of a Florida resident, you'd pay an additional $2 in fees. $5 to check the criminal history of a Florida resident purchasing a gun, you'd pay an additional $2.50. CIGARETTES AND ALCOHOL For each: Pack of cigarettes, you pay about a penny more in taxes.

The current tax is 34 cents a pack. Six-pack of beer, you'd pay about a penny extra in taxes. The current tax is 36 cents a six-pack. Source: Governor's Office of Planning and Budgeting Ethics in Government Act forced Barr to start probe outside counsel if he finds a credible allegation of wronedoine aeainst certain ton admi cluding information gleaned from passport files. DiGenova, the special prosecutor, a Republican who was appointed as a U.S.

attorney during the Reagan administration, did not return calls Thursday. The latest turn in the case followed a report last month by the State Department's inspector general that depicted a group of political appointees at the White House and State Department who sought to spread derogatory information about Clinton to news organizations during the campaign, hoping to find an excuse to rummage througli government records for documents that might embarrass the Democratic candidate. In the end, the search turned up nothing. The report found that State Department officials were responsible for the search, including two who were dismissed or demoted. But it also indicated that senior White House officials, including Baker and the two aides, knew about the search of Clinton's files while it was being conducted but did nothing to stop it or to punish those responsible.

Congressional investigators are seeking an interview with Baker, as well as memorandums, telephone records and other documents from his office and those of Tutwiler and Mullins. All three have hired lawyers to represent them in the maHer, with Baker retaining Lloyd Cutler, who served as White House counsel for President Jimmy Carter and has close ties to Clinton. Some people following the case suggested Thursday that Baker was not the main focus of the inquiry. ETHICSfrom 1A cized the law that authorizes the appointment of independent prosecutors, which expired Tuesday. His decision also thrust President Bush's Justice Department into a case that deeply embarrassed the White House during the presidential campaign.

Neither Barr nor other Justice Department officials would comment on the matter Thursday. But it seemed most likely that the attorney general had felt compelled to seek the Appointment of the prosecutor because the law that governs such appointments allows the attorney general little discretion in cases involving allegations against top political appointees. Under the law, the attorney general must seek an Jl i iv-c holders, referred to by the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 as "covered officials," even if he does not suspect they broke the law. In this case, the number of officials who fall into the "covered" category appear to be limited to a few senior White House aides in the executive office of the president, chiefly Baker and possibly Tutwiler and Mullins. While the potential crimes under instigation remain uncertain, it is conceivable that the prosecutor will examine whether officials concealed their knowledge of the search or violated privacy laws that bar unauthorized disclosure of government records, in.